On a scale of 1-10, how tea obssessed are you?

I read both of those books! Out of roughly a dozen books I have read on tea I judge that they are the best!

So far I am really enjoying them, any tea books you would recommend?

I am glad you are enjoying them.

The way I see it, it really depends on what you want to know about tea. Some books I have read have great anecdotal stories about tea—with beautiful pictures to accompany each one, some go into detail about the history of tea, some go into research concerning the health benefits of tea, and still others are memoirs that give detailed accounts of what goes on on a tea plantation. There’s also the famous, Book of Tea, written by a Japanese gentleman about a century ago, which to my rememberance, was more about asthetics and budhism than it was about tea; still, an interesting book.

I did a search in my library and exhausted literally every book about tea they had. I have also gone to a number of book stores to skim through them all.

I was interested in books that gave an overall view of tea. The one Mike Harney (of Harney and Son’s) wrote recently, I believe called, A Guide to Tea, covers similar topics that Heiss and Heiss covered; and he also seems very knowledgable and genuinely passionate about tea. I don’t have the names of any of the others handy, but I suggest searching at your library and at the local book stores (you could also us Amazon.com as a good staring point).

Anyone else have any suggestions?

I was looking through Amazon.com, but they had a lot and I was just trying to see which ones came recommended here to see what I should pick up first since they all seem interesting. I’ll probably end up reading most of them in the end, but perhaps I’ll start a new thread for book recommendations.

I like your story about the dinosaurs.

It reminds me of a time when my nephew (he was very young at the time) and I were sitting at a table in a library, and he saw a picture of an eagle. With that characteristic self-confidence of a two-year-old, he pointed at it, proclaiming, “Bird!” I, being the older and of course wiser of the two of us, said, “No, it’s an eagle.” Sitting up more straight, he than adamantly reasserted, “Noooo, BIRD!” I reasserted my own position, saying more emphatically, “No, < name of my nephew withheld to protect the innocent >, it’s an EAGLE.” He then stood up, steadfastly pointing at the animal in question, his voice rising several octaves, and said, “NOOOOOOO, BIRD!” Finally, swallowing my pride, and giving in, I said, “OK, it’s a bird.”

Kids say the darn-est things, don’t they?

But he was right! Perhaps he would have accepted your correction better if you’d said, “Yes, that’s a bird, but it’s not like the birds we see at the park. It’s much bigger. And it’s called an ‘eagle.’” You can’t fool kids! He saw wings and feathers and knew darn well, that’s a bird, all right. :P

Haha, did your nephew get worse, though? I sure did! Once my second grade class went to a paleontology display at the local university, and when my teacher went along with my classmate’s jokes about dino skeletons from different periods eating each other, I went apesh!t, and fiercely lectured her on the spreading of scientific illiteracy in her students. (“THEY NEVER. LIVED. TOGETHER!”) I’m sure I embarrassed her, and I’m equally sure she wanted to murder me.

Interesting story. Thanks for sharing it. For me, I actually don’t mind being corrected, as long as it’s done in a reasonably respectful manner (definition of which is very subjective, and of course, young people often don’t know how to give criticism respectfully, so I don’t take their corrections personally). You may have embarrassed her, but hopefully she eventually realized the truth of your observations, and forgave you for any shame she may have felt at the moment (you were only in second grade, after all).

And yes, in the story I mentioned above my nephew was right! That’s why it was so funny. And I agree that there is often value in giving an explanation to help clear up confusion, but I think he was too young to appreciate that distinction in this case (I think he was two years old, or younger).

Well, since you asked, there was an another funny story when he was a little older. While driving, I saw a tractor; not knowing what it was at the time, I said, “Look, there’s a tractor!” And he, in his infinite three-year-old wisdom corrected me, saying, “Nooo, it’s a backhoe!” I was speechless. After a moment—realizing that a three-year-old had just corrected me—I gathered my wits about me, then said something to the effect of, “Really? It’s called a backhoe? Well, what do you know, you just taught me something!” To this day when I see a backhoe I often think of him. Although it may be humbling the moment it happens, I really do love it when others (especially young people, or my students) teach me something, as it emphasizes something I believe strongly: we are all teachers, we are all learners. : – )

Oh, and yeah, on the original topic, I am similar to you (and I like how you explain yourself) in that I rate myself about an 8 (there are a number of other things more important to me than tea, but not too many).